Crossroads of Destiny
by LucifVegeta
Summary: It was a contingency of inadvertent chance, something brought upon by a Saiyan's arrogance. It was a contingency that Piccolo exploited, something that would, in time, change the course of the universe forever...


Several annoyingly acute beeps were emitted from Raditz's lime-green scouter as the bulky Saiyan aimlessly allowed his prey to remove their weighted clothing. The readings were admittedly puzzling in nature because of the asinine theory presented by Goku and his green friend, but Raditz silently waited and allowed his future opponents to do whatever they deemed necessary in preparation for battle. In the Saiyan's mind, his opponents and their seemingly unwavering resolve would not affect the outcome of the battle one bit. Nobody with such pedestrian power levels could even hope to keep up with the might of a well-trained Saiyan warrior, especially not some naively guileless Saiyan outcast and his sullen green friend.

Raditz slightly chuckled to himself as his onyx eyes glanced at the fallen space pod which contained Kakarot's child. As part of the last triumvirate of Saiyans in existence, Raditz was tasked with finding Kakarot on Earth so he could convince the childish Saiyan to join their cause. Of course, he refused, so Raditz was forced to take his son, Gohan, in custody until he could... _persuade_ him otherwise. As it appeared now, he would have to do some better persuading.

In the midst of Raditz's thoughts, the light breeze of the wind softly caressed against the long-haired Saiyan's black mane which extended all the way to his bare kneecaps. Although he hated to admit it, the scenery of Earth was quite nice; luscious green grass plotted the fields that they stood upon, and circling the fighters were plentiful mountains covered slightly by thin wisps of cloudy material. Bright light shone down and glistened off of his bronze and black armor. It reminded him strangely of another planet... one, coincidentally, that he and his compatriots obliterated just several months ago.

The thought made the Saiyan laugh hysterically as he swiveled his face to stare at the figures of Piccolo and Goku, both of whom were prepared to fight to the death, their weighted clothes collapsed into the soil behind them.

This made Raditz laugh even harder.

"Hahahahahahahahahaha! Do you two _really _think that's going to make a difference?" he inquired with a grin and narrowed eyes.

Piccolo and Goku gasped simultaneously at the Saiyan's brash statement. Piccolo was especially nervous; after all his years of training, who would have thought that Goku's alien brother would materialize out of nowhere, guns a blazing, and prepared to annihilate the entire population of Earth? The green creature took a quick glance at Goku's figure whose brown eyes bulged at the revelation, but both silently agreed that giving away their taut apprehension would be a grave mistake. In a game like this, whoever could appear strongest could end up being the victor.

But it was painfully difficult with Raditz at the helm, ready to strike.

The Saiyan across from the two startled warriors folded his massive arms over his bronze chest plate with his smirk continuing to seep through his guise. "Fools! Don't you know who I am?! A few weights aren't going to affect the outcome of this fight! I'm still five times stronger than you are!"

Goku was quick to retort at Raditz's audacious claim. With clenched fists and a slight snarl, the Saiyan glared at his brother. "That may be true, but strength isn't the only thing that matters!" Goku quickly transfigured his glare into a grin as his tumultuous optimism kicked into high gear, which drew an exasperated groan from his sidekick. "Not when you can outsmart your opponent!"

Staring back at Goku was his brother, whose sly smile had faded into a scowl in response to Goku's taunts. Dealing with derision and mockery by his colleagues had always been commonplace for Raditz until finally he could only handle so much; when opposing forces dared to mock the long-haired Saiyan, it struck him in his gut like sharp daggers, making him choleric, cross, and unfailingly aggressive. His mindset, whether he liked it or not, was just plain different than the typical Saiyan's. Although he yearned for bloodshed and violence, and despite being as prideful and manipulative as the next guy, he just could not handle hardships. This, combined with his unnaturally low power level, made him a quite easy target for his comrades.

But being chaffed and ridiculed by random warriors of other planets was even worse. It was like he was an open book that could be read by anyone; everyone could see he was weak, even when he continually told himself that it was not true in the slightest. And this made him very, VERY angry.

With crossed arms, Raditz pursed his lips together as he bored a menacing stare toward his two opponents. "You really don't have a clue, do you, brother?" The long-haired Saiyan's black eyes glared deeply into Kakarot's. After he dared to mock him, there was no use for him anymore. The other guy's death would be a mere casualty of Kakarot's insolence. "I'll tell you what. I think I've decided I don't want you to join us anymore."

Immediately, Raditz uncurled his bulging arms. His hair rippled in the increased winds as his ki energy began to build up, causing the grassland to rumble with violent pulses of energy. "A fool like you would only slow us down." As even more energy was released by the burly Saiyan, his frown grew even larger until he was nearly ready to implode with pure, livid anger, and his hair oscillated in the miniature tornado even more. "YOU'RE A DISGRACE TO ALL SAIYANS! NOW PREPARE TO DIE!"

Attempting to keep their balance in the fierce winds, Piccolo and Goku each dropped into their respective fighting stances. The whirlwind generated by Raditz's energy bombarded the duo continuously, but Goku paid it no mind as his stern gaze continued to stare at his brother, his brow furrowed and his eyes darkened. One glance toward his brother's spherical pod would give the Saiyan all he needed to stay motivated, and more importantly, alive...

Gohan continued to feverishly pound against the windowpane of the space pod, but to no avail. His tiny, balled hands couldn't hope to dent the powerful exterior of the ship, which was built to withstand the harshest of environments that outer space had to offer. Tears jettisoned down his beet-red face and made their way down his yellow and green shirt; Goku instantly remembered such a shirt as one that he and Chi-Chi fashioned for him just several months ago. Such a sight was absolutely heart-wrenching for Goku. Brother or not, Raditz had caused his son too much pain, and with an even more furrowed brow, the Earth-raised Saiyan would battle to the end in order to secure his family's safety.

Before Goku's wandering thoughts could persist, Raditz had burst out of his stance and launched his furious self at the duo. His movement was too quick to comprehend, and as Piccolo and Goku both widened their eyes in pure horror at the astonishing speed, two sickening cracks were heard as both bodies lurched forward in agony. Smirking lightly, the maniacal Saiyan removed his elbows from the two warriors' spines, allowing them to stumble forwards and return to their stances.

Separated by nearly thirty feet, the two warriors of Earth couldn't even bear to look at each other, for each was fixated on the absolutely mind-boggling speed that accompanied their opponent. It was maddening that someone could be so... fast. Goku gnashed his teeth together as his mind raced in attempts to reach the finish line and think of a strategy. But alas, the pain pulsating in his back made things difficult. Even standing up straight took a bit of conscious effort, and with that in mind, Goku just couldn't focus.

Aside from him, Piccolo clenched his dark green fists together in rage. After several years of next-to-impossible training, after many months of increasing his power to unimaginable heights... a warrior from outer space just popped out of nowhere and automatically dwarfed the stoic warrior's own power. Even Goku appeared as a rodent compared to this hulking beast, and the worst part was that one attack had nearly crippled both of them. Narrowing his dark eyes as he panted with his hands on his knees, Piccolo knew it would take one-hundred miracles to finish off Raditz.

It was a prospect that wasn't very enticing, but it would have to do, for who ever said world domination was easy? The green warrior actually forced a slight smirk on his face, a direct contrast to the beads of sweat dripping toward the grassland below and the veins popping out from his lime cranium. Nothing ever seemed simple when Goku was around, and although the Saiyan was naive as a baboon and a complete numbskull, it certainly was an interesting challenge. As he glanced upward at the burly Saiyan, Raditz, Piccolo managed to return to his fighting stance. Goku's brother was not going to ruin his plans for defeating Goku and taking the world over. Not by a long shot.

Piccolo's smirk faded immediately as Raditz began to assault the air with his hearty laughter. Squeezing his hands into his pearl-white fingertips, the warrior was prepared to battle. Hopefully with some better results...

"Hahahahahahahahaha!" Raditz continued to hold his hands in the air, mimicking the position he engaged in after releasing his elbows from his opponents. After his fit of laughter, the Saiyan managed to contain his grin into a relatively calm mien, glancing back and forth between his enemies, whose erect figures were relatively unexpected. Such blows should have wiped them out cold, but apparently they did things differently on Earth...

"Well, I'll give you this... you know how to take a punch." Immediately, the Saiyan flexed his massive arms together, relishing in the heat of battle that was to come with a curled lip revealing a smirk under his furrowed brow. "Good! That should only make this all the more enjoyable! Oh, yes, let's find out how much pain you can _really _stand!"

Such comments weren't exactly welcome with the Earthling crowd, a factoid that Raditz immediately cued in on after witnessing the agape jaws and broadened pupils that overcame his opposition. "What's wrong? You look so pensive, Kakarot. Are you still trying to outsmart me?"

Looking for a reaction, the Saiyan practically glared at the two warriors to release more fear. It was what drove him as a warrior. Constantly being made fun of for being weak certainly gave Raditz an ego boost when he was fighting people he could seemingly defeat with ease, as it gave him what he craved most: a feeling of power. The constant chaffing Raditz received made him cowardly and often bitter around his comrades, but around weaker warriors, it made him feel like an actual Saiyan once again. These feelings didn't come around very often, so he was going to make it last... and have a bit of gaiety while he was at it.

"Well, think about this while you're at it: your situation is even more hopeless than you realize! Hahahahaha... if you think I'm strong now, wait until I catch my stride. Truth is... I'm just getting warmed up," the Saiyan muttered with a smirk, pointing his head downward as his dark glare intensified...

* * *

The frenetic thrill of battle was a sensation that was relatively mysterious to Piccolo Junior. In all realities, this was only his second battle in his entire life, and his first really didn't count, in his mind. He was consumed by a bitterness to avenge the father who created him, and that same cold, harsh virulence made it next to impossible to truly experience the satisfaction of battling with all he could muster.

Although many would think that battling would constantly be a painful reminder of that defeat at Goku's hands, and therefore his failure to vindicate his father's death... well, actually, they would all be quite correct. Piccolo struggled to form his own identity during his time on Earth; he so desperately wanted to avenge his father and rule the world as his successor, but a small sliver of his soul poked and prodded his consciousness to turn around and realize that his father wasn't such a good guy after all.

But of course, since when did a lost soul ever listen to common sense?

Piccolo's justification was always about the people, and how he could never live in harmony with them- and he was probably correct. His pigmentation disregarded, people already considered him to be their real-life version of Frankenstein's Monster, and of course the green skin didn't help shun those rumors whatsoever. The chartreuse creature couldn't help but make out the Earthling populace to be dreadfully cruel in nature, and thus wanting to rule over them with a discordant decree seemed just as natural as drinking water. After all, his father meant more to Piccolo than any Earthling, and therefore his wishes deserved to be fulfilled.

But these feelings were all swirling around in his cranium after his battle with Goku; during the battle, he was filled with the memories and endeavors of his father, too much so to truly feel any sort of emotion... hence why his first battle didn't count.

And thus came to the battle with Raditz. Never had an actual battle been this... strange. There hadn't even been a punch thrown, but Piccolo felt more of a thrill than anything he had ever felt before. He did not have a clue as to what the sensation was, nor did he have an idea why it was happening. Immediately attributing it to the desperation of protecting his future task of subjugation, Piccolo knew that Raditz had to be stopped, for his father's dream WOULD be accomplished... some freaky, long-haired alien wouldn't be able to do ANYTHING about it...

In the midst of the cunning warrior's train of thought, Raditz's scouter began to beep in its usual sprightly manner. The Saiyan warrior frowned as he scanned his opponent's once more, most likely out of habit. "I'll tell you what. Seeing as how your power levels are more or less equal, why don't we make a little game out of this?" With his brow furrowed beneath his huge man of black hair, Raditz glanced at his two enemies, both of who looked extremely exasperated with clenched fists and grimaced teeth. "We'll call it, 'which of you can last against me the longest'."

Quickly transforming his fierce guise into a grin, he continued with his speech. "The rules are simple. I cause you both a great deal of pain, and you writhe around in agony. The loser is the first to beg for mercy!"

The taunting was taking its toll on both Piccolo and Goku, and it was quite evident by the beads of sweat and grisly appearances that they wore. Piccolo clenched his green fists together even more, allowing several veins to pop up out of the immense pressure. His fangs were nearly chipping each other away in his apprehension, and as he sneaked a glance toward Goku, he could tell that the Earthling Saiyan was experiencing the same emotions.

"That's it. I don't care how strong he is... I'm not gonna stand here and listen to this! I would prefer to die!" the so-called demon stated with a growl, glaring at his opponent with his darkened eyes.

Immediately, the already grinning Saiyan began to heartily laugh, not taking any threat from Piccolo seriously. His brow almost curved upward, a direct contrast to its usual furrowed appearance. Clearly, the Saiyan was having a joyous time. "Hahahahahahahaha! Don't you worry about that, green man! We'll get to that in due time!"

Several yards away from Piccolo, Goku forced a smirk to seep through his sweat-covered face as he stared down his kin. "Hey, don't get ahead of yourself. You haven't beaten us yet."

"Trust me, Kakarot, I know an easy win when I see one; I'm a Saiyan! It's what I do," Raditz retorted, easily continuing the quite dilatory repartee.

And as Piccolo and Kakarot continued their endless babble, the burly Saiyan glanced into the distance, not able to help himself from picturing a future perspective of the planet in ruins. Planet Trade Organization interdiction or not, it was every Saiyan child's dream to conquer a world and hold it within the palm of his hand... Raditz was no different in that regard. The bloodlust that engrossed each Saiyan in the hub of battle was a feeling like no other, something that Saiyans considered themselves lucky to experience so often. The feeling was partially the reason that the Saiyans were warlike people... in fact, without such inner flames, Raditz thought it doubtful that he would even wish to be a warrior any longer.

Of course, the Saiyan was no pacifist. Not by a long shot. His sadistic adoration for murder and suffering made him a prime candidate for the usual Saiyan archetype, but the fire dwelling in his gut was augmented by something many Saiyans never had: an obsessive need to display power. The long-haired monstrosity practically made himself crazy by tormenting his mind with thoughts of his brethren laughing at him so many times, calling him a weakling... the taunts he endured every single day.

It was because of these mockeries that Raditz drooled over the prospect of an easy fight, a chance to show the world, ANY world, that he was, in fact, a more than capable conqueror. The Saiyan snarled at the memories of his past, particularly of his time in training with his fellow Saiyans. They didn't even consider himself worthy to represent their race...

Quickly choosing to focus his attention elsewhere, Raditz managed to force his growl into another smirk, letting his already dark eyes pierce into the souls of his adversaries beneath his wily mane. As he began to pay attention to his moronic opposition, he heard his foolish brother, Kakarot, beg the inquiry of where Gohan was being held. Raditz was more than happy to amuse his younger sibling.

"Right. Your little son. You think you're going to save him? Who's getting ahead of himself now?" he queried sarcastically.

Almost immediately, Goku responded with a yell. "This is the last time I'm going to ask you! Where. Is. My. Son?!"

"Spare me the fatherly dramatics," Raditz muttered with a slight frown of annoyance, folding his bulging arms across his armored chest. "You can have a last look at him if you want. He's locked inside my space pod behind you."

As Goku sprinted toward the crater in the direction his backside, his reluctant compatriot could only stare in slight amazement. The green warrior still felt a bit disconcerted at the entire situation; for what his father told him, Goku was a typical human, caring nothing for anyone and being a hindrance in the plans of should-be-gods. While it was a bit perplexing how Goku could concern himself so much over a brat like his son, Piccolo attempted to pay it no mind. After all, his father warned him about the trickery of his enemies, and this could all be a ruse...

In the midst of things, Piccolo's sensitive hearing made his antennae perk up at the cacophonous taunts that Raditz spit into the airwaves. Gritting his pearl-white teeth together, the Namekian once again narrowed his eyes in preparation for his opponent to make an unexpected assault. Goku softly plopped back next to his partner, a fury in his chocolately eyes never seen by the son of King Piccolo. The Saiyan of Earth gripped his hands together and glared at his brother with his furrowed brow beneath his palm-tree hair. It was time.

"All right, let's do this!" Piccolo commanded to his partner, both of them returning to their fighting stances once more.

Raditz slowly chuckled across from them, not even bothering to drop into any sort of stance. Except for his light fits of laughter, all was silent. The wind left wisps in the air, and the crystal-blue waterfalls silently poured streams of steaming water into a creek behind one of the plateaus. Tension was high. And the battle was about to begin.

"HUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA A!" the duo screamed, each of them charging at Raditz with as much speed as they could muster. Side by side they advanced, and each step drew them closer to the kidnapper of Gohan.

As soon as they each landed in front of Raditz, they began to bombard the Saiyan with fists, striking so quickly that they appeared to each have a dozen arms. Each strike composed a gust of wind as they ripped through the sound barrier, furiously attempting to cave Raditz's face in. To their complete and utter shock, Raditz maneuvered his head around every single blow, effortlessly avoiding each punch like they all were nothing more than slow flicks.

Getting desperate, as evident by their immensely widened optic organs, both fighters resorted to jumping into the air and using their boots to attempt and dropkick the snot out of Raditz's brash mien. Each strike, predictably, sailed right by his expeditious head, doing nothing more than tire out the wielder of such a force.

Obviously, their strategy wasn't working, and they both knew it. Attempting to regroup, they quickly used a vanishing technique, disappearing out of the sky and reappearing behind the Saiyan's armored back. Before they could even comprehend what was going on, a glaring pain shot into their guts, sending them skidding backwards. As they left the area, each of them grimaced in pain as thumping began to occur in their stomachs, and it felt like a bomb had exploded within their innards... it was extraordinarily painful.

Grieving in pain silently, the duo attempted to turn their luck around by bursting right back toward the figure of Raditz, the Saiyan who floated aimlessly, seemingly not giving a care in the world that he was in the midst of a battle. Within milliseconds Goku and Piccolo shot towards their mutual enemy like bullets, flaring through the air with incalculable speed.

Well, incalculable for most people. But Raditz wasn't like most people.

Quickly swiveling his body around, the long-haired creature smirked as he watched the blazing figures of Piccolo and Goku soar right beneath him. Like dogs set upon chasing prey, they wouldn't give up, and they changed direction to fly towards him again.

Raditz smiled with a shimmer in his eye as he watched them charge upward at his airborne body. They just didn't understand, did they? This battle was already over. No amount of drunken rage, no amount of war cries, and no amount of vainglorious speeches would change that. Of course, it wasn't often when warriors left their arrogance at the wayside in a battle; no, Raditz knew by experience that it was inherently infeasible for his enemies to NOT carry erroneous hubris when facing him.

But what could one expect? A martial artist by trade typically held three redeeming qualities: determination, strength, and a quite gibbous musculature. A mix of those three things could only have one possible outcome: a transformation into a self-adoring braggart. Raditz considered himself to be an outlier, but he knew that his two comrades, Vegeta and Nappa, fit into that role perfectly. He didn't expect any more from the insubstantial Earthlings, especially his brother.

This information didn't always make the fact easy to take in, however. Raditz was often pleased in a perverse manner because it was an opportunity to completely debilitate his enemies' confidence in the long run, especially by displaying his own imposing power at precisely the correct times. He enjoyed watching his enemies keep at it until they literally couldn't move any longer, only to finally realize how completely outclassed they were the entire time. It was as joyous as Raditz ever got.

But then again, there was a part of him that was genuinely offended at how such weaklings could ever think they could defeat him. It was like they thought of him as a mockery- just like everyone else. This made him irascible to the point that he could only barely contain his ire, so much so that he sometimes would accidentally jump ahead of himself and nearly finish his prey off before he wished to. It was a petty part of his persona, but he couldn't do anything to stop it. And unfortunately for him... Piccolo and Goku were getting on his nerves with their unbelievable amounts of audacious confidence.

Grinning with the delight of finally displaying his true efficacy, the long-haired Saiyan raised his hands to the light blue sky above him. His red armbands were so tight around his biceps that they appeared to be nearly snapping as he flexed and began to quickly draw energy toward his hands. Maniacally giggling to himself, Raditz watched his light green scouter gleam with sunlight and the purple sparks that danced around his palms. Quickly maneuvering towards him were Piccolo and Goku, with harsh determination radiating off of their sweat-drenched brows.

When the duo was nearly two yards away from him, Raditz bellowed a growl and released two massive streams of violet energy. Electricity rippled in the air as the blasts raced toward the aghast figures of Piccolo and Goku, crackling through the oxygen-filled Earth air. With gasps of pure astonishment and eyes wider than the Red Sea, Goku and Piccolo attempted to perform dodging maneuvers, but they were all in vain as the blasts sped onward like heat-seeking missiles.

The duo immediately was shot down to the ground by the powerful blasts, but the amethyst beams didn't stop there. Quickly surpassing the positions of the falling warriors, the energy streams collided several miles away against the base of a gargantuan, charcoal-colored mountain; almost immediately, boulders and chunks of rock trampled the ground below, and half of the range was shattered with a tremendous BOOM courtesy of Raditz's blast.

Below (and a lot closer to Raditz) the spectacle of dazzling lavender lights, the Saiyan known as Goku landed with a thump in the dirt-ridden grasslands, his bare feet creating a puff of wispy dirt. Without hesitation Goku grimaced his teeth and swiveled his palm-tree hair upward, glancing to and fro for his brother, but to no avail.

"Where did he go?!" the Saiyan articulately shouted into the air, almost posing a question to himself rather than to anyone in particular.

Unfortunately for the man raised on Earth, luck didn't appear to be siding with him on the fateful day, and his brother phased directly behind him with a devious grin seeping through his pale face. "Right here," he whispered emphatically.

Goku had absolutely no time to pivot his feet and face his adversary, for Raditz punted his brother in the back with the sole of his brown boot, sending the warrior screeching through the air in agony. Moments later, and unfortunately for the prairie, Goku landed and consequently skidded across the ground, coming to a stop only after fertilizing nearly twenty feet of land. A high moment for a farmer, maybe, but for Goku, all it did was gash his skin in multiple areas.

Smirking as he admired his gruesome handiwork, Raditz clenched his fists together, relishing in the interval of time that he had in which to showcase his awe-inspiring power. It was high time that the fools realized how pitiful their situations really were, but judging by their continued groans of determination... well, that wouldn't be happening any time soon. And for Raditz, their prolonging of doom was only more of a reproach toward his strength.

He was going to have some fun with this group.

But having fun wasn't exactly what Goku predicted for the foreseeable future, because the lacerations scattered across his body weren't exactly keen on cooperating. The Saiyan stumbled about as he forced his body to twist and turn until he was on his backside, and after wiping a coat of blood off of his chin and onto his wrist, he grimaced in pain to turn toward his fallen ally.

"P-Piccolo... Are you all right?" he queried with a slight stutter from the pain that shot through his face. Immediately after he posed the question, however, he knew what a foolish inquiry it was...

A pool of dark purple blood was quickly forming underneath the staggering figure of Piccolo Junior, droplets of plum-colored blood dripping into the puddle constantly. As the metronome-esque sound splashed away at the green feet of Goku's ally, it became clear to the Saiyan that Raditz's blast had taken much more of a toll one the duo than previously thought... Piccolo's right arm had been completely incinerated, and the same violet blood squirted out of the stump beneath his shoulder every few seconds.

Piccolo carefully pressured his arm to prevent any more excessive blood loss to occur, and the pain was easily visible through his gritted teeth and severely furrowed brow which laced his lime skin. "Don't worry about it... It's not as bad as it looks. I'm not out of this fight yet."

And for Piccolo, his word was one-hundred percent truthful. A severed arm was only a minor hindrance in his fight. His father had always been able to overcome such major deterrents in the past, and in comparison Piccolo thought of his as a minor tickle, something that would bother only the weakest of fighters. With a deep scowl on his face, Piccolo stared at his opponent, the Saiyan warrior who stood between him and his father's dream; painful or not, his grievous injury would not prevent him from completing his goal. He was the son of King Piccolo, for god sakes!

Before he could continue his strangely vengeful thoughts, Piccolo's antennae perked up with the painstakingly annoying sound of Raditz's deep laughter, something that seemed to happen far too often for the stoic warrior.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh, excuse me, has anyone seen my arm? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You can't miss it; it's green! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Slowly moving closer to his enemies, Raditz managed to put a halt to his moment of rioting, but a sliver of a smirk remained on his hardened face. "Come on now, surely that pathetic excuse for an attack wasn't the best you could do!"

... Unfortunately for the Earth-based group, it was indeed the best they could do, and Piccolo thought it best to regroup at that moment. "Goku, if you have any new techniques you've been waiting to use, now's the time..."

Goku chuckled to himself slightly, keeping his eyes on Raditz at all times. "Haha... Sorry, I wish I did."

And at that moment, Piccolo was incredibly conflicted. Unbeknownst to his partner in crime, the green man did in fact have an unused technique, one that could quite easily sway the battle toward their side. But using it would be a risk. Not only did it involve a sustained length of gathering energy, but it also was one that he was reserving for future use... against Goku himself. One that could kill him at a moment's notice, so easily able to pierce through the skin of even the mightiest of warriors. One that could potentially win him the Earth.

And at that point, Piccolo was between a rock and a hard place, so to speak. On one hand, he could use it against Raditz, and possibly extirpate the conqueror from existence... but would it be worth it? He spent months developing the perfect technique to sneak by Goku's seemingly poignant defenses, and his adversary would know about the technique enough to find out a fruitful method of defense against it. Could he kill Goku without it? His father's memories (along with his own) showed the warrior to have prodigious resourcefulness, something that seemed to stem from either luck or some sort of guardian angel. Contention would not be easy without some resourcefulness of his own.

But then again, NOT using the technique against Raditz could prove to be fatal... If it truly was the only way to end his reign of terror, then it would be worth it. But if they could use some other sort of strategy to defeat him, it would be much more promising to Piccolo's future.

But what strategies could they possibly use? Unless some window of opportunity presented itself in the VERY near future, futility seemed to be the common theme in every strategy that Piccolo could think of.

So to preserve his life (and therefore allow him even an opportunity at taking over the world)... Piccolo chose to showcase what took months of practice to formulate.

"Hah, you slacker. While you've been taking it easy, I've been developing a new attack," the green warrior stated with a slight smile.

"Fools!" Raditz interrupted, countering Piccolo's smirk with his own. "Haven't you figured it out yet? All of your planning is futile!" The Saiyan slowly placed his hand on his hip, relaxing in the soft winds of the grassland. "Whisper all you want, but you're still going to die."

"... So, you really think this attack of yours has enough power to do some damage, Piccolo?" Goku quickly asked, conversing as quickly as possible in order to avoid the wrath of his annoyed brother.

"Yes."

Goku swayed his head to glance at Raditz, but the elder Saiyan merely watched in amusement as they conferred with each other. "And you can do it with only one arm?"

Clenching his fist (the only one he had left), Piccolo frowned at Goku's inquisition and narrowed his beady eyes. "Yeah, that's no problem. The problem is, it takes me a while to gather the energy for it." Peeking over at the Saiyan warrior, Piccolo widened his eyes, imagining the future scenario. "So, you'll have to last against him alone for around five minutes... It's your decision."

With a gulp, Goku wrinkled his brow. But whom was he to turn down a challenge? Especially to help the team, no matter how unorganized and nonsupporting it could be at times. "All right," the Saiyan muttered, a bead of sweat slivering down his tanned face. "If you're sure it'll work, I'll hold him off."

"Well, the truth is, it's untested in real combat. I've never tried it against a real opponent." A modicum of a smirk showed upon his lime green face. "I was hoping to save it for a special occasion. It was the attack I planned to use to defeat you."

Somewhat unsurprised, Goku merely nodded in understanding, never taking his eyes off of Raditz. "I see. Now you're using it to help me. You must be terribly disappointed."

As their slight bantering droned on and on and on, Goku's brother yawned; it was such a droll waiting for them to make a move. Raditz actually began to entertain the thought of removing his scouter and checking the time, or possibly even taking a brisk walk in the wooded areas that laced the planet. Thinking it both humorous and absolutely abhorrent that he was even considering such tasks made the Saiyan chuckle openly, but his opposition didn't seem to notice.

To be completely honest with himself, Raditz was just waiting to impress (and then murder) his slightly ignorant foes, and they were making it quite hard to gain satisfaction from either one of those performances. Their endless planning and chatter was all for naught, after all; nobody with such low power levels could defeat a Saiyan warrior, but they just didn't seem to understand. How typical!

But in his boredom the Saiyan was beginning to lose focus on the battle, and not even the mighty Raditz could afford to do that. Quickly resurfacing back to his previous state, the Saiyan bulged his eyes as he noticed the body of Goku charging at him in the air. Directly next to him was that armless green man with veins protruding out of his forehead as he growled and grunted, a slight aura of blue energy beginning to sparkle around him.

Finally, the raging Goku reached his brother with a chop to his neck. Raditz brought up his forearm to block the blow with relative ease, and then Goku began to assault the warrior with an assortment of strikes. Each one was largely vapid, however, and each block Raditz made shot singes of pain throughout Goku's muscles.

Quickly, the strikes were getting taxing, but Goku wouldn't let up. Coming in with uppercuts and shin kicks combined with knive-hands and elbows, the Saiyan warrior attempted to exploit each area of Raditz's defense. Unfortunately for the younger warrior, however, each attack was pointless. Raditz blocked them all with incredible speed and resolve, never letting up- even smirking while his mane of jet-black hair rippled about from the winds created by each strike.

After each punch, Goku got fatigued, and it began to take his toll on his body. Eventually, his attacks began to falter; enough so that Raditz took the upper hand within seconds and began pounding fists into the gut of his younger brother. Grinning profusely, Raditz moved his assault to Goku's face, already flailing about courtesy of Raditz's attacks. Purple bruises formed after each THACK echoed across the grassland, and scarlet blood began to slowly spray out of his nose and mouth.

_Damn it, Goku... Just a little longer! _Piccolo thought to himself with a grimace of despair. Slowly building energy, dark blue spirals began to encircle the green warrior. The ground began to shake below as energy continued to build. It would only be a little bit longer...

Many yards away from Piccolo, the war raged onward. Raditz's brought his fist forward with a snarl socked his brother in the chest, which was covered but certainly not protected by his bright orange gi. "Gahh!" Goku screamed as his body was sent gliding into the distance, consequently creating a furious gust of wind that struggled to perform the futile task of stopping the injured warrior's flight.

Goku landed awkwardly on his heels. His heart was pounding after the vicious strike that Raditz gave to him, and with a pained snarl, the Saiyan placed his palms onto his knees, panting. Unfortunately for him, he didn't exactly have any intervals of time to catch his breath, and he immediately bounced into the air.

The warrior tilted awkwardly in the air until his backside was facing Raditz, and quickly he swiveled his head with a glare at his enemy. Raditz merely smirked at Goku's seemingly pitiful vivacity, but Goku had something more up his sleeve than his elder brother imagined.

Cupping his hands adjacent to his left hip, the younger Saiyan shifted his body slightly to take fire at his opponent. "Ka... me..."

A frown began to appear upon Raditz's pale face, quickly transforming into a gasp brought upon by several beeps from his scouter. "Im-impossible! His power level is skyrocketing! Nine-hundred... Nine-hundred and fifty!"

"Ha..." A scintillating aura began to ripple around the Earth-raised warrior as pulsating blue energy began to hum softly between his palms.

The acute beeps continued to pile on as Raditz shook in his brown boots and bronze armor; his already dark eyes nearly popped out of his sockets as he read the figures on his green eyepiece, completely unprepared for such a rapid increase in energy. "But how?! He knows how to raise his power level by concentrating his energy into one spot!"

"Me..."

Absolutely aghast with terror, the Saiyan couldn't help but gawk at Goku's massive increase in power... he was now nearly as powerful as Raditz himself! Barely able to gulp down a swallow into his throat, Raditz then immediately gasped as another figure shot up on the screen of his scouter. Rapidly torquing his head to glance behind him, Raditz saw the flaming blue aura surround Piccolo, two fingers pressing against his forehead with a field of yellow energy bouncing around his fingertips.

"His power level has gone up as well; it's over one-thousand! Unbelievable," Raditz remarked in utter shock. "And it's still going up!" After another series of frantic beeps from his scouter, Raditz whipped his body around to face his younger brother...

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The radiant beam of cerulean energy rocketed out of Goku's hands, arcing through the air to soon envelop its opponent. Faint crackles of azure energy hissed around the outer portion of the cylindrical blast as Goku poured more power out of his hands_. _Perhaps Piccolo's new technique wouldn't be necessary after all!

Down on the grasslands, Raditz scurried across the dirt-ridden field, sprinting with all the speed he could muster as he attempted to outrace Goku's attack. With gritted teeth and an extremely furrowed brow, the Saiyan bobbed across the Earth, but it was beginning to be rather paltry as Goku changed the direction of his attack with every move his brother made.

_Damn it all... _Raditz thought to himself, feverishly glancing back at the swift beam of pulsing energy that followed him everywhere he went. _I... I can't outrun this! _

Halting in his tracks and skidding his boots across the light green grass, Raditz pivoted his feet until he faced the whirring energy beam head-on. Quickly, the bright blue light overcame the Saiyan until he was forced to squint in order to protect his eyes from the harsh luminosity of Goku's blast. "ENOUGH OF THIS!" he furiously bellowed, gritting his teeth together in preparation for the collision.

As the beam got closer, Raditz extended his hands outward in an effort to push the energy back with his own massive power. The attack instantly connected with his outstretched limbs, sending his upper spine tilting backwards and his hair wildly flailing in the massive winds.

"AUGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Raditz screeched, exerting all of the effort he could in attempts to vanquish Goku's beam and protect himself from being completely devoured by its power. But the decision to engage the energy streak head-to-head was a risky one, and despite his increasingly stalwart resolve, the Saiyan knew that attacking Goliath was a match better suited for David than himself.

_N_o, _no, no! This can't be happening! I am a Saiyan warrior; I can't be beaten by the likes of this! _

Raditz's eyes were completely closed as he clenched his teeth together and squeezed his muscles as tensely as he could to try and push out enough force from his battle-hardened body. He continued to enforce the fact that he would NOT go out in such a manner, but it was becoming more difficult to hold back the attack than it was to deal with a Saibaman's putrid stench back on Planet Vegeta.

As the Saiyan's muscles contracted painfully, he was beginning to lose all feeling his his hands, and numbness took over from the energy that whirred in front of him. Heat radiated off of the beam and reached the skin on his arms, and as Raditz continued to grind his teeth together and force his eyes shut, the incandescence began to make its presence known, sizzling as it began to burn the epidermal area on Raditz's unarmored body.

Unable to withhold his stance any longer, the Saiyan drooped his arms downward, allowing the sapphire beam to completely consume him in its crackling cage. The blast immediately detonated on contact with the warrior, creating a thick veil of cobalt smoke that hovered around him; tiny pebbles and brown rocks slowly began to plop to the ground, risen in the air seconds ago by the massive explosion.

Goku hovered in the air, looking for any sort of movement within the smoky shroud that misted around the ground below. If his Kamehameha Wave inflicted any sort of damage, that would be critical to any sort of victory that the duo could eventually reach. If not... well, he shuddered at the thought of the impending failure.

As the seconds went by, the smoke dissipated quite slowly, until it was all but vanished... The figure of Raditz began to appear visible to his brother, and Goku gasped as he witnessed Raditz, panting, but relatively unharmed. It was impossible! Such an attack should have finished him off... But he didn't appear to be hurt at all, and as soon as he popped his neck to the side, the younger Saiyan was absolutely astonished.

Frowning, Goku continued to encircle the Saiyan in the air, his palm-tree hair waving in the soft winds. "Ugh, he cancelled it out!"

Raditz softly trembled, his feet fully entrenched in the dirt from the immense pressure created by his tussle with Goku's attack. His dark eyes were firmly locked ahead, almost as if he were oblivious to all of his surroundings, and his hands were still outstretched, slightly blackened and crusted from the heatwaves created from the azure stream of energy.

"Piccolo had better hurry," Goku muttered to himself. Raditz was unharmed from his strongest attack. It was all for naught, and the seemingly indomitable Saiyan didn't appear to be ready for a break in the action.

A deep breath exhaled from Raditz's slightly agape mouth, and he released his hands from their elongated position. Quickly clenching them and unclenching them to test their effectiveness, the Saiyan shifted his gaze to look at Goku, and he smirked as he glared at his sibling's bewildered appearance.

"Brother! I'll show you how it's done!" Raditz shrieked, narrowing his eyes feverishly.

Almost instantaneously, the Saiyan pulled back his right arm, nearly forcing it out of its socket. With a grunt, Raditz thrust his arm forward, releasing a wave of crackling pink energy that sped toward Goku in pursuit of having the Saiyan for a meal.

Goku could only hope to hold his ground as the pink stream completely enraptured his body, and a small squeal was let out of his mouth as he was consumed by Raditz's attack. In mere moments, the body of Son Goku plummeted to the Earth below, dropping hundreds of feet until it clumped against the soft grass that covered the battlezone. Raditz phased directly in front of the bruised and bloodied Goku, snarling as he pulled his fist back, preparing for an assault.

Unfortunately for the rabid Saiyan warrior, his scouter once again gave him quite a fright, and it began to beep, promptly alerting the monstrosity to Piccolo's rising energy signature. Raditz swiveled his body around to get a full view of what he was up against. But the energy was rising at rapid speeds, and instead of the beast observing its prey, Raditz felt a faint feeling that _he _would be the prey soon enough.

He didn't allow it to show, but blocking the Kamehameha Wave took more effort than imaginable. One more blow of that magnitude could send the battle in a different direction completely, and he was not about to allow that to happen.

About twenty yards away, Piccolo laughed menacingly, barely able to produce a sound through his efforts of gathering energy. Beads of sweat slid down his face and dripped onto the ground, and his long nails glimmered with the yellow light that surround his two extended fingers. A magnificent cerulean energy rippled all along his body as his incredibly darkened eyes pierced into the very soul of Raditz's astounded figure.

As he continued to laugh, the green man began to realize his technique was almost ready to be tested. He felt good; the pure power racing through his veins was enough to finish off Raditz once and for all. "Ha..haha...hahaha... let's see you stop this one!" he snarled through gritted white teeth.

Raditz was absolutely in abject horror as his scouter shot out figures for him to read. Apparently HE was the one who was in denial about the outcome of this fight, not his opponents! It was becoming clearer and clearer to the Saiyan that the Earthlings were more than they appeared, and he would have to be on his guard for the remainder of the fight!

"I underestimated these guys! Power level thirteen-hundred and thirty... I _can't _block that!" he shrieked, his eyes widening in fear.

It was high time for him to convince himself he was still the most powerful warrior on the planet. Whether it was true or not at the certain moment, he NEEDED to tell himself he was still on top of the fight. He was a warrior of the Planet Trade Organization, a Saiyan planet-conqueror! With a slight fit of deep breaths, he attempted to remind himself how pitiful the Earthlings were compared to him- they had to use all of their energy to GAIN energy, a seemingly deplorable oxymoron in itself, but it was no concern of his any longer. If he could avoid the upcoming blast... the fight was his to win.

That realization made it easier for him to act upon the upcoming blast. When he wasn't on top, it was easy to see that Raditz was a coward, a warrior that could only fight when given pristine conditions- for his own self-esteem if not his unusual Saiyan tendency to become frightened rather easily. His coping mechanism was a form of denial in its own right, but it was a form that was often successful, and it would be the key for his survival (if it would end up being so).

Piccolo continued to chuckle as he built his energy to even higher levels. Raditz was getting worried now, even with his coping raging through his head. "Arghh, ALL RIGHT, GREEN MAN! LET'S SEE WHAT YOU'VE GOT!" he bellowed, squeezing his fists together in rage as his eyebrows furrowed intensely.

"IT'S ALL YOURS!" Piccolo retorted under the faint murmur of his crackling energy. "MAKANKOSAPPOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Exploding out of the green man's fingertips was a thin beam of golden light which was wrapped loosely by a coil of bronzed and violet ki. Brilliant flashes of dark pink and orange illuminated the daytime sky, creating a picturesque sunset effect. But most importantly of all, Raditz could barely even think before he noticed the spiraling strike spinning towards his chest; even if it were armored, the Saiyan had multiple doubts that he would be able to keep his ground, especially in his already weakened state from Goku's attack.

And when the beam impacted with something unknown to Piccolo and his compatriot, they were left to wonder if the attack was successful... or if it was an utter failure.

* * *

Piccolo couldn't believe his eyes when his attack seemingly exploded on Raditz, most likely- and to his utter hope- wounding him gravely. But then again, the pragmatic warrior was intelligent enough to know that eyes weren't always the greatest of storytellers, and they could often exaggerate, sometimes even embellishing the story so much that it completely changes the outcome.

A slight frown emerged on Piccolo's hardened face as he explored the possibilities. His eyes saw his Makankosappo score a hit on Raditz and explode upon contact. He desperately wished to believe it were so, but there was something in the alleys of his mind that warned him it could not be true.

For one thing, in all his months of perfecting the technique, Piccolo only saw the beam explode when it made contact with a surface that it could not penetrate. Flesh- Saiyan or not- was one of the softest substances in the known universe. It could EASILY be pierced.

There was, however, another factor: Raditz's armor. It was possible that the attack wasn't powerful enough for his covering... but it was highly unlikely, considering the breadth of the power that was behind the beam. In fact, in Piccolo's mind, the armor wasn't even strong enough on its own to stop the Kamehameha, and the Makankosappo was much stronger than that.

Grimacing, the green warrior braced for the outcome as the amethyst smoke cleared. His more pragmatic and realistic side viewed the situation as a dire deterioration, a situation that was all but favoring the opposition. After all, it made sense for the beam to miss Raditz and hit something that it couldn't pass through, causing the combustion. But then again, his more idyllic and hopeful side viewed the situation as a success; after all, he witnessed Raditz get hit with his own eyes.

But unfortunately for Piccolo, pragmatism was always his strong suit, and he knew deep down that it was all but a miss. And as the wisps of smoke slowly but surely dissipated into the air, revealing Raditz standing upright with a deep frown, Piccolo's theory was reassured.

Still, it didn't make the situation any less terrifying.

Several droplets of sweat slid down his face as the green creature gazed in awe at the Saiyan's speed. His pupils were reduced to tiny beads in his fear, and his brow was nearly nonexistent as he imagined how quick the Saiyan would have to be to avoid such a beam. "He... He dodged it... He's... Faster than the... The speed of light..."

Across from the trembling martial artist, Raditz smirked, taking a moment to admire the damage done by Piccolo's attack: one of his shoulder guards was completely blown off, and a large gash made his bulging shoulder ooze with scarlet blood and yellow puss. The Saiyan glanced at Piccolo and placed a finger on his injured arm. "My, that was quite an impressive little trick. Look how easily it pierced my armor!" Dropping his finger away from the injury, the Saiyan popped his neck to the side, squishing his nose as he grimaced from the sharp pain.

"It's lucky for me your aim needs a little work." Clenching his fists, the Saiyan grinned at his awestruck opponent. "Now, I had a little trick I had wanted to share with you, remember? It's the one I was going to show you when we first met.."

"Y-yeah, I know," Piccolo choked out of his gulping mouth.

Raditz's grin grew even larger as he drew his brow to a devious furrow. "Do you remember the name?"

With no answer from the stupefied Piccolo, Raditz drew his right arm back, extending it straight into the air as he lost his smirk for a more determined guise. Slowly, light blue flashes began to radiate from his palm until a single ball of sparkling energy remained. Snarling, the Saiyan thrust his hand forward, directly at Piccolo... but then he stopped dead in his tracks.

Piccolo gasped in misunderstanding as he relaxed his shoulders, and Raditz swiveled his head in amazement to look behind him. Chuckling and squatting down directly behind him was his brother, Goku, who was holding Raditz's long brown tail in his hands...

* * *

Gohan was not having a good day. No amounts of copious crying could fix that, unfortunately, and the boy was exhausted to the point where he could barely contain his uncontrollable whim to sleep the day away. Back at home, his anatomy and physiology textbook stated that sleep was necessary in all facets of life, and it brought many benefits, so Gohan decided it wasn't too foolish to drop like a fly- even if it was inside a raging psychopath's space pod.

Anyone who saw the sleeping child could tell how rough his day was. His eyes- although plastered shut- were puffy, and slight blue lines from pouring his tears out were lodged beneath his eye sockets. His nose was still dripping with somewhat disgusting globs of snot that jetted down his yellow and green shirt like they were traveling through a maze.

But in fairness, a day as rough as his deserved to be looked at through tears and whining. Gohan was kidnapped, for God's sake! He was thrust into a dusty and tiny space pod, no less, and forced to watch his father risk everything against a murderous alien that happened to look quite similar to a human. It was as terrifying as anything the boy could ever imagine, and to sit through such a torturous series of events was brought upon pure heinous revulsion. He despised it.

Just as debilitating for Gohan was the fact that he believed his father to be indestructible, almost a godlike figure who could never lose a fight. He supposed most children held that belief, but his was different: most children didn't exactly have the greatest martial artist on Earth as his father.

He hadn't been alive for very long, but that didn't make it any easier on the young boy. Everything he heard about his dad referenced his world-saving expeditions and his indomitable bravery and resolve. Such lofty expectations were unhealthy, perhaps, but they were there nonetheless, and Raditz had taken his preconceived thoughts and shattered them like they were thin pieces of glass.

Consequentially, of course, Gohan was having a difficult time enduring the shattered glass. So when he got so exhausted from exploding in tears and bursting on the windowpanes of the pod twenty times over, he collapsed like he had narcolepsy and plopped on the cold, steel floor of Raditz's pod.

Unfortunately for him, however, his deep sleep wouldn't last much longer.

His ears perked up slightly (as much as a Saiyan's could) with the sound of painful screaming... the voice of which was his father's. It was not pleasant at all for the young hybrid, and he quickly emerged from his supine position to glance out the window.

That dastardly Raditz was crushing Goku's bare ribs with his boot, causing his father to screech from the horrific amounts of sharp pain he was induced to. Gohan couldn't bear to continue watching. He still knew in his heart that his father would eventually be able to turn the tides on his opponent, and for that he was somewhat holding back his inevitable raging waterfall of tears, but he was reduced to sitting down with his legs curled up, his arms wrapped around his shins as he softly whimpered.

Why was Raditz being such a- and pardon the French- douchebag? Goku hadn't done anything wrong! Gohan's heart began beating faster, pounding in his chest as he clenched his fists around his knees and snarled. It was like a hot fire burned within his gut as he listened to his father's screams for mercy while Raditz continuously made him beg for more.

But Gohan could tell that Goku would never give in. While it was certainly admirable by all sense of the word, Gohan had a slight nagging feeling that he was making a poor choice. And why wasn't Piccolo helping him?! Regardless, Raditz was getting impatient, and it was about to become much, much, more complicated...

"I guess you're not going to beg for me," Gohan heard Raditz mutter. "Argh, you're such a disappointment, brother."

With a snarl, the heat inside of Gohan increased tenfold, seemingly ready to erupt from his innards. Hearing his father in pain was bad enough, and as each shriek bombarded Gohan's eardrums, he began to shake. It was a feeling unlike any other, one brought upon by pure anger.

Suddenly, he heard the phrase that really did the trick in setting him off.

"TIME TO DIE!"

Infuriated, Gohan began to rumble in rage, almost in a trance as fury overcame him and transformed him into something previously unfamiliar and certainly recondite to the poor hybrid Saiyan. It was unbelievable how... invigorated he felt, almost as if he were in a constant heart attack. And it was all Raditz's fault for hurting his father... Gohan wouldn't let him kill him!

Screaming with absolute fury, Gohan released a golden explosion of energy that completely consumed Raditz's space pod, nullifying the piece of equipment with ease. The boy jumped into the air and landed several feet away from the crater, shaking with unbiased and unabashed fury.

Piccolo and Raditz each gasped with astonishment. Raditz removed his foot from Goku's chest and furrowed his brow, not believing that his pathetic son could destroy the space pod with such... ease! "It... can't be!"

Although Gohan heard his "uncle" speak, the words went straight through his ears. There was something about this anger, something that blinded and deafened him to the point where he was nearly mindless. Struggling to stand still and his voice shaking as he tried not to scream, he could only glare menacingly at Raditz's aghast look, his long mane of hair blowing in the wind above the injured Goku.

Goku tried calling out to his son, but to no avail, of course. The young Saiyan was gone, devoid of all thought and emotion in his angry state. Raditz's scouter began to beep once again, making the Saiyan drop his jaw with surprise.

"Augh! Power level one-thousand three-hundred and seventy! Impossible for a kid! A-and... it's still going up!" Raditz moaned, his eyes almost exploding through his beeping green scouter.

In mere seconds, a faint maroon glow began to emerge around Gohan's trembling body, humming through the silence. Seconds later, the boy seemingly imploded with a furious shriek, yellow energy now being released from all facets of his body.

The boy took off from the ground, instantly charging like a bull to a matador... but this wasn't a game, and Raditz could only hope to flex his abdominals as Gohan headbutted his stomach, sending him clutching towards the ground in agony...

* * *

Piccolo was always a cunning warrior. Ever since he was a boy (although technically that wasn't quite long ago), the green man understood the intricacies of combat, how to truly outmaneuver his opponent with not only his physical power, but also his superior intellect. His father's memories had taught him a valuable lesson: never let an opportunity run away, and as soon as Goku's son took Raditz out for the count, Piccolo could only hope to be able to jump on the juncture.

It wouldn't be too difficult, the warrior told himself. After all, the Saiyan was injured and stunned. A few simple attacks would take him out for good, and the results would be emanations to die for. After all, there would be nobody to oppose him any longer! Goku was injured and unable to move. Gohan would most likely drop like a fly within seconds, unable to contain such energy. And the weaklings of Earth who dared oppose him would be mere vexations for him to crush.

Of course, Piccolo didn't know if he truly wished to take over the world for his own dreams. He knew deep down that he was trying to please his father, but he kept telling himself over and over again that it was a very favorable dream, one that he wanted for himself. He had longed for this day, though, ever since he was born... and it would finally be the day he could do something about it.

Piccolo grinned with delight as Raditz writhed on the ground nearly twenty feet away from Goku, furiously trying to clutch his chest as he seethed with anger. It was time to hit the home run, so to speak, and finally begin his quest to conquer the world.

"How pathetic!" he barked at Raditz as he began to take flight. "You let your guard down for too long, Saiyan!"

Immediately flaring his energy and racing towards the downed warrior, Piccolo began to gather energy in his right hand. Crackles of golden energy quickly formed as the being came closer to Raditz until he was nearly ten feet away from him, and the green warrior smirked, beads of sweat flying off of his forehead.

"DESTRUCTIVE WAVE!" he bellowed, immediately releasing a huge beam of golden and black energy that rippled in the air as it devoured the shocked Raditz whole.

Before the thick wisps of smoke could even clear, Piccolo began gathering the same colored energy in each hand, thin flashes of light appearing on top of his green palms. The warrior narrowed his dark eyes to look into the smoke, but as thick as it was, he couldn't see a sliver of anything, let alone Raditz. And as soon as the energy began to form into a ball into his palm, he released it, one after the other, until both blasts engulfed the region ahead of him where Raditz was downed.

Electricity crackled in the air as both blasts waged war on the landscape, buzzing in the air as Goku watched on in silence, seemingly amazed at the turn of events. Piccolo's hardened mien increased as he gritted his teeth, sending out as much power as possible in the two beams. Veins protruded out of his head and sweat formed across his face before jetting down into the ground, but the warrior wouldn't halt his attack until he couldn't bear to continue.

And that time came quickly. Piccolo's arms began to pulsate with pain as his energy was drained quickly, and the exhausted warrior put a halt in his energy assault, dropping his claws to his knees as he panted. Wiping a layer of sweat off of his face, the green man could only watch as the smoke raged onward, not dissipating in the slightest just yet.

Quickly taking a moment to glance at Goku, the Namekian was surprised to see him appear... content. Did he not realize that Piccolo did this to make the planet prime for conquering?! Apparently the warrior was more naive than he previously thought. Or perhaps, Piccolo thought to himself with a frown, he really was meant to merely save the planet because it was the right thing to do.

But then again... his father warned him of this. Said he would be looked down upon for it. He had a very vivid memory of King Piccolo thinking to himself that the people weren't prepared for a ruler dictatorship, but that they needed it. They were a weak race, a cruel race, and Piccolo deserved to rule over them because he was the best, and because it was just plain fun. But as the green man furrowed his brow in frustration, he just couldn't understand the true reasoning he wished to defeat Raditz.

Ah well, it wouldn't matter now. Killing Goku was what he intended to do, after all, and that wouldn't change regardless of his inner turmoil. Grunting and forcing a slight smile at his truly ingenious plan, Piccolo glanced into the smoke, which was beginning to clear. As each wisp grew fainter, he began to see the outline of Raditz.

And his slight smirk transformed into a devastated, agape frown.

Raditz's frown was as deep as ever before. His hair was somewhat fried at the ends, now only up to his backside. His previously bronze armor was now tottered with black smudges of grime and rust, and bloody cuts and bruises laced his body every so often. Slight droplets of crimson blood dripped on the ground, which was completely uncovered into a mess of soil, dead insects, and small pieces of metal.

And his dark eyes glared hauntingly into Piccolo's.

"You really are starting to annoy me, green man," Raditz muttered, squeezing his right fist together and revealing a large gash on the top. "You have just cemented your place under my boot."

Within seconds, the Saiyan charged at Piccolo, whose eyes widened uncontrollably as his jaw dropped open. Raditz thrust his hands forward, one at Piccolo's neck and one on his cranium. Quickly torquing them sideways, he cracked Piccolo's neck, restricting bloodflow and therefore killing him.

* * *

_A/N: Thanks for reading the first installment of _Crossroads of Destiny_! I hope you enjoyed the chapter, as it was quite fun to write. I promise that I will do my best to make this into the best story possible and take all my readers to a universe where things are quite different from canon... and often not for the better. _

_I would like to direct a major thank you to my beta, FinalFlashX. He is the author of several amazing stories, two of which are the famed_ The Earthling Chronicles _and _Zarbon's Rebellion. _He has been my beta for as long as I can remember on the site, and although my previous story didn't work out, he was a phenomenal help. Give him all the support you can, for his stories are infinitely better than mine!_

_I would also like to extend a thank you to KaiserBlast for designing the cover picture of this story. As you can see, Piccolo will be a big character in the future, despite his death. Kaiser is a fantastic author and artist, and he deserves your reviews! _

_As far as updating speed, I am infamous for being quite slow. Still, I will do my best to bring out quick updates. I will not promise weekly, but that is the goal... might be too farfetched, but hey, at least I'm trying!  
_

_Questions and comments in reviews will be responded to in Q&As in each chapter. So leave as many as you want, and I promise I will answer them! _

_Thanks for reading once again. 'Til next time!_


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